Virginia Tech Basketball: Hokies takes advantage of poor UNC defense
Virginia Tech basketball took advantage of a bad defensive night for North Carolina and picked up a huge win at home for their resume.
Virginia Tech basketball has been struggling to find a signature win all season. Washington and Ole Miss were their two best wins prior to Jan. 22. Their worst loss was to St. Louis. Other than that, there haven’t been bad losses but they needed a really good win.
The North Carolina Tar Heels, on the other hand, were rolling with a four-game winning streak. The move of inserting Cameron Johnson wasn’t getting enough praise. It boosted his confidence and created scoring outside of Joel Berry and Luke Maye.
The matchup between the two teams resulted in a surprising win by Virginia Tech considering the way both teams were trending.
The Tar Heels started with Maye and Berry doing a lot of scoring. Shots were falling from all over the floor. Maye showed early on what makes him so good. He has the ability to drive, shoot from downtown and off the offensive glass.
There were two obvious problems for the Tar Heels, though. First, Berry and Maye were doing all of the scoring. No one else was contributing. Maye and Berry both finished with 23 points. Maye shot 3-for-4 from downtown and Berry shot 4-for-12 from there. Berry only shot and made one free throw. Maye didn’t get to the line at all.
Besides Maye and Berry, no other Tar Heel scored over five points. Just when UNC thought they had found one or two more scorers in Cameron Johnson and Kenny Williams, those players had bad offensive nights
Williams was 1-for-5 shooting in the first half. By the time the second half rolled around, the junior guard had four fouls and failed to score. Johnson also struggling, going 1-for-7 in the first half while his only points came from a three-pointer. He ended the night 1-for-6 from behind the arc.
Virginia Tech though had more scoring diversity throughout the whole game. The difference maker in the game was the four three-pointers Virginia Tech hit in the final 3:03 in the first half. Ahmed Hill and Justin Bibbs are the top-two 3-point shooters Virginia Tech has to offer. The four triples the Hokies hit weren’t by either of them.
Berry turned the ball over with the Heels up 30-27. That set up the first 3-pointer from Wabissa Bede. UNC was able to get two back via a Williams jumper, but Chris Clarke came back for a triple of his own. Over a minute and 10 seconds later, Kerry Blackshear Jr. hit one of his own. Finally, with four seconds left in the half, Justin Robinson hit a three to give the Hokies a 39-32 lead at halftime. In three minutes of game time, Virginia Tech hit four three-pointers on for an impressive 12-2 run.
The second thing that the Hokies were able to do in the first half was take away offensive rebounding from UNC. Just eight minutes into the game, the Tar Heels already had seven points off of second-chance opportunities. Buzz Williams took note, made adjustments, and limited the Heels to just two more offensive rebounds.
The Hokies completed the total reversal in this area of the game as they were able to get nine points off of offensive rebounds in the second half. Not only did Virginia Tech take away one of UNC’s strengths, they gave them a dose of their own medicine.
North Carolina’s defense had actually been decent since their loss to Florida State on Jan. 3. They had only given up more than 70 points once, which was to a hot-shooting Clemson team. In that game, the Tar Heels had one of their most complete games all season to secure the win.
Less than a week later, though, no one seemed to be able to score and the defense fell apart against the Hokies. North Carolina had problems closing out and defending all five guys on the floor. Bibbs was off but the Hokies found scorers other places. Robinson finished with 19 points, Hill had 18 and Blackshear dropped 16. All five starters were able to get at least one triple to fall.
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It’s clear why North Carolina won’t be able to make another National Championship run. Besides Maye, no one can battle down low. He and Berry can’t be the only guys scoring. In the Clemson win, every player knew their role and contributed. When no other starter goes over four points, the Tar Heels can’t win games.
As for Virginia Tech, they finally got their quality win. Their resume hasn’t been bad besides the Saint Louis loss. Virginia Tech’s only ACC wins have come against Pittsburgh and Wake Forest. Their losses were to Syracuse, Virginia, Louisville and Florida State. Not bad at all, but there weren’t any good wins.
The Hokies took away one of UNC’s best attributes and controlled the entire game. Virginia Tech took advantage of the Tar Heels inability to find a third scorer and put themselves back into Tournament discussion.